Should you consider a continuous hinge for your storefront?

Storefront doors are ubiquitous. If you've been to a plaza anywhere in the country in the last 50 years, it's almost a certainty that you've encountered a pivot mounted, aluminum frame door installed in the entry way. The pivots are mounted in pairs, most often. One top and one bottom. This is a picture of the top pivot on a door like I'm telling you about.

These pivots are pretty durable. Most manufacturers of these doors choose pivots for their ease of installation and adequate strength. But, I think that will be changing over the next decade and the continuous hinge will become commonplace. When pivots do degrade, the most common means of discovery is that the door literally falls right out of the frame. This is an obvious problem, because that's not what a door should do. The implications to your liability are more subtle and far worse. What if this happens to a customer? What if it's a customer's child? You could find yourself wrapped up in a lawsuit and have to replace your very expensive door.

The solution is a surface mounted continuous hinge. One long hinge from the top to the bottom of the door. They are lightweight, extremely durable and they have the bonus function of creating a seal on the hinge side of the door. Here is a picture of one that's been installed. It's difficult to see because they are well designed and blend right into the original frame.

The final consideration is cost. Surely, this advanced hardware must be expensive, right? Well, not necessarily. While the parts cost is certainly much higher for the hinge vs a set of pivots, changing pivots is much more labor intensive. By the time it's said and done, you'll spend almost the same amount to replace the pivots as you would to upgrade to a much more durable solution that removes the liability risk in nearly all circumstances.

They are not limited to storefront doors either. They can be installed on steel, wood, fiberglass and even some residential doors. This provides a viable option for commercial doors with damaged frames, broken hinge mounts or sagging hinges that are causing the door not to close smoothly or easily.

If you are considering a continuous hinge for your business, facility or home, we would love the opportunity to quote you for this upgrade.

-Dan Bailey

Helping in the midst of tragedy.

There are a handful of common reasons that people need a safe opened. Among them is the aftermath of a tragic circumstance. The death of a loved one is always horrible and it's only the beginning of the hardships. Estate planning, funeral proceedings, legal action and more will all be upcoming after the fact.

In some cases, the process can be made a little easier when the safe holding important documents, resources or other valuable assets, can be accessed to retrieve those items.

One such case I dealt with recently was with this Winchester gun safe. The contents belonged to the father of my client and he was named recipient in the will.

I verified the relevant information, began by pulling the dial and prepping my rig to the door. "RSC" containers are relatively standard in design so this, being one, is a straightforward operation. I confirmed the information and began the drilling.

In a little under an hour, I had this one opened, repaired and set the new combination so the safe could be returned to use. The client was thrilled that the whole operation left no visible indication that it had ever been done and he didn't have to find somewhere else to store the contents.

I was asked not to photograph the contents of the container, but stay tuned, because I'm sure someone will be amenable at some point.

Thanks for reading, and I will be posting ongoing work on my socials. These will be video and image (without compromising sensitive information) so go over there and check it out.

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Natural disasters? No problem.

I've been informed there is a particular location in North Carolina that has the fewest incidents of natural disaster. It is not affected at all by earthquakes, hasn't experienced a tornado in decades, elevated enough to avoid flooding and if there is a hurricane, the geography diminishes the storm to have negligible impact.

That is an interesting fact and a great blessing if you live there. But, most of us don't. For those of us, like myself, who live in an area where natural disasters are a fact of life, you will have to deal with the consequences of that reality at some point.

After a hurricane struck our state this year, this safe was left for several weeks in a flooded garage. The electronic lock was compromised as a result of the storms impact and the owner finally decided he needed to have the container opened to recover its contents before replacing it.

As unfortunate as it is to find yourself in the path of a hurricane, that misfortune is magnified when the damages destroy or prevent you from accessing your insurance paperwork, valuables, money or whatever else you may need to have to make your way back to normalcy.

Having the ability to assist you in that restoration is a joy and a blessing to me. Hopefully, it can be the same for you. Whether it's a storm, a fire or a vandal, I hope to reduce the impact of those events for you.

Give me a call for a free quote!